Paris-Nice: Simon Yates solos to victory on stage 6

Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) soloed to the stage win on the first foray into the mountains in Paris-Nice, attacking just before the top of the final climb, with 19 kilometres to go. He raised his arms in victory atop the short, steep ascent into Fayance 17 seconds before Sergio Henao (Team Sky).

The Colombian champion moved into third overall thanks to his attack, but race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) tenaciously clawed his way to fourth on the stage behind Richie Porte (BMC), giving up just 12 seconds to Henao to keep the maillot jaune. The Frenchman even padded his lead over Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal) by another three seconds.

Yates moved into the top 10 thanks to his gamble.

"I had a small idea about trying something, but it all depended on how I felt and the conditions," Yates said. "It got to the moment, and I said to myself 'why not? I haven't got anything to lose so if I get caught I get caught'. So I tried, and I'm just happy it worked.

"It's one of the biggest races we do, and one of the hardest week-long races. I'm really happy to be able to win again - it's my first win of the season, and I hope this continues for a good year.

Now eighth overall at 1:37 from Alaphilippe, Yates was unsure if he could challenge for the overall podium.

"We'll see. I'm still quite far behind. It’ll be very difficult to take time back, but we can only try - we'll see what happens."

How it happened

Paris-Nice headed into the mountains for the first time of the 2017 edition on stage 6, and the riders were given an immediate wake-up call to switch power from flat land to climbing legs as they headed up the category 1 Col de l'Espigoulier from the gun.

Ben King (Dimension Data) and Cyril Gautier (AG2R La Mondiale) were the first riders to attack and were joined by Winner Anacona (Movistar) and Delio Fernandez Cruz (Delko-Marseille Provence KTM). Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo) attacked and went across, but the peloton was just behind, and it was all back together before the summit.

The blistering pace spelled the end of the road for Cannondale-Drapac's Davide Formolo, who had taken over as their GC hopeful. Lawson Craddock also abandoned, decimating the American team.

It wasn't until 50km into the stage that a group finally went clear, and it included Alessandro De Marchi (BMC), Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale), Winner Anacona and José Herrada (Movistar), Michael Valgren (Astana), Ben Swift (UAE Team Emirates), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo Vital Concept), Ben King (Dimension Data) and Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis).

But when the road tilted up to the category 1 Col de Bourigaille for the first time, the breakaway disintegrated, leaving just De Marchi and Sepulveda in front.

Behind, Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) had a go to test the mettle of Alaphilippe but was quickly marked by Dan Martin (Quick-Step) and Sergio Henao (Sky).

Over the mountainous final 50km, Alaphilippe found an ally in Team Sky, who helped control the attacks over the dual ascents of the Col de Bourigaille for a possible Sergio Henao stage win.

On the second ascent of the Bourigaille, the two leaders' advantage was half a minute as Sky continued to set a brisk pace to discourage attacks, even if their GC hopes were slim, it was a dress rehearsal for the Giro d'Italia. Their efforts steadily whittled down the front group and reeled in the two escapees at last with 21km to go.

Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) launched an attack with 600m before the summit, and quickly opened a solid gap on the yellow jersey group, cresting the mountain with a 12-second lead, and tripled that on the long descent.

When Yates hit the final climb with 1.2km to go, his lead was out to 46 seconds, but the best young rider was not a threat to Alaphilippe, starting the day 2:16 behind on GC.

The race leader showed his resolve after Richie Porte attacked the final climb, rather than let a non-threatening rider go up the road, Alaphilippe neutralised his move to stamp his authority on the race.

But Porte went again, and when the Australian's move was countered by Henao, Alaphilippe might have regretted his earlier effort as he struggled to keep the Colombian champion's pace on the steep ascent. He limited his losses, but the ferocity of the attacks will cause some concern in the Quick-Step camp in the coming two mountain stages.

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